As the Geekwire article mentions, it's a scare tactic: don't try to leave for a direct competitor, or a business we particularly dislike - or you might end up s

As the Geekwire article mentions, it's a scare tactic: don't try to leave for a direct competitor, or a business we particularly dislike - or you might end up spending the next several years in courts and out of a job. Who knows how many employees were discouraged from taking a job with such direct competitors due to this substantial threat? Just being told by HR that you'd be sued would rationally discourage most people. It also selectively prevents some of Amazon's best employees from pursuing some of their best career alternatives. Would you like to get into this twisted paradoxical game, in which the better you perform at your job, and the more lucrative your alternative opportunity is (i.e. the more they underpay you), the more likely you are to get sued for taking it? This is depressing wages and hurting all employees, not just the few chosen for a lawsuit.